This was in the original idea for Tangled Up Gears, but ended up not fitting in with the story. Still, I wanted to write Dracula and Sara having a chat and lay out some of my ideas about the VK, so here we are.
They left the whip in the alchemy laboratory. It wasn't much of a joke, but one took one's amusements as they came, these days.
Dracula went to see her one day.
The whip laid on the floor beneath a table with a large, smoking hole in it. It radiated rage and hatred like a bonfire, a furnace, the sun itself. Dracula knelt beside it, taking one knee to the floor, and reached out with one hand. His fingertips smoked and charred in less than a second.
He withdrew his hand and watched.
The maid's spirit watched back, coiled and ready.
There had been a time when he had nearly forgotten her. When his life was empty, when it was filled with love, when all he had left was rage. Soon he might be allowed to forget her again. But...but first, he had sworn.
"So, this is how it ends," he said, casual as if they were still sitting in his former hall, chatting over wine. "The Belmont is corrupted. He will never be able to properly wield you again, and that sin will pass to his descendants. Leon was wrong."
The maid's spirit blazed so brightly he could almost read the words she would say, had she still a voice. It is not yet over, vile creature. Not as long as I exist.
"Yes, about that." He watched the flames dance, the scent of holiness filling the air. "I swore to my wife - my second wife -" because the maid would remember Elisabetha, they had been friends, of a sort. It showed Elisabetha's generosity, because of course she was generous. He had loved her, after all. "- that I would free you."
The flames halted. Fury gave way to suspicion, underlaced with true fear.
"It is possible," Dracula said, and let his mouth fall into a wolfish smile. "Though I am the last person capable. Only I have the Book of Alchemy and its forbidden secrets. Only I know that you still inhabit the whip. Only I can allow you heaven."
How dare you? I... I will not allow you to try! I will see your end first!
"It unfortunately requires your cooperation." A pity, that. But if he had the ability to destroy the whip anytime he pleased, she would already be with Leon. "But know you this: the Belmonts are lost to you forevermore. Leon's vengeance can no longer be attained. You may stay here, trapped and suffering in the name of those who have forgotten you, or you may yet see Leon and Elisabetha again. Is this not a gift?"
He was not sure how mocking he meant that question to be.
I refuse your tainted gifts. The flames returned, though lower than they had been.
That was that. Lisa had only made him promise to try. She had been so kind, accepting him even after he told her of his first wife, of his plan to be reborn from the souls of vampires. Even after all that she had embraced him. Her only concern was "poor girl who sacrificed herself", and he had been happy enough to swear on his love for her that he would attempt to save the maid, should he ever re-encounter the cursed weapon.
She had been the best of all women.
But that had all been before. Before the humans, before the fire, before the blood and ashes that forever coated his hands.
Dracula reached out again, thoughtful. This time his fingers brushed the braided leather before they burst into flame. He did not withdraw his hand. He was used to this pain.
"They are all in heaven, and we are here, you and I." Dracula watched as the holy fire ran up fingers to his hand, almost to his wrist, powered ever by the maid's rage, hatred, and agony.
And as long as I am here, you will be defeated. Even if we must continue until Doomsday.
"I have no doubt you will try," he agreed. Even with the Belmont corrupted, even with the Vampire Killer in his hands, Dracula was not so foolish as to declare his final victory. This was but another step in the circular, bloody dance they were both caught in.
The pair left to rot upon the earth while their loves waited in heaven.
How horribly alike they had become.